About the CIREN Program

About the Program

The MCW CIREN Center is sponsored by the administration of the Department of Neurosurgery, and the program includes clinicians, biomedical engineers, and research scientists with strong reputations in impact biomechanics.

Objectives

Real-world crashes are investigated to further the following objectives:

Reconstruct and understand crash and injury causation

Improve prognosis and treatment for crash trauma patients

Reduce time of recovery and treatment costs

Simulate crash scenarios in laboratory environment

Disseminate data to industry, regulatory, and public agencies

Develop strategies to reduce fatalities and injuries in automobile crashes

Provide information to improve public infrastructure to reduce crashes

Develop and disseminate safety messages to the public

Train health care providers in vehicular safety and associated care

Unique Strengths

The CIREN Center at MCW derives its uniqueness and strengths from:

Internationally renowned surgeons and researchers at the trauma center

World-class biomechanics and engineering investigators

The unparalleled impact testing facilities

The close collaboration between these groups, housed on a single campus, provides an ideal environment to achieve the CIREN Center’s objectives and the CIREN program’s aims. This CIREN Center is the first to focus its activities on brain and spinal cord injuries in motor vehicle crashes, concentrating on injuries in the very young and the elderly. Special attention will also be given to assuring quality improvement measures for injury scaling and crash investigation.